Shirt pressing machines are known in the industry and generally comprise a shirt supporting body, or buck, which is movable on a track or turntable between a dressing station and a pressing station, where the front and back of the shirt is contacted by heated pressing plates for the purpose of removing wrinkles and, at the same time, drying the shirt.
Typically, at the pressing station, compressed air is admitted into the interior of the buck and exits through a plurality of openings formed in the inflatable buck body, so as to facilitate drying and pressing of the garment. U.S. Pat. No. 3,471,067 provides for sleeve extenders to move the sleeves of the shirt laterally outward from the inflatable buck in response to an actuation of air cylinders. Specifically, when a long sleeve shirt is positioned on a buck, the sleeve extenders pull on the long sleeves to remove the wrinkles from the long sleeves as the arms of the piston cylinders are moved to an expanded position.
The prior art teaches that the area of the sleeve which contacts the cuff is held by a clamp and the sleeve is extended in slight tension away from the shirt body. Steam and heated pressurized air enter the sleeve through the opening at the shirt body. All other openings of the sleeve must be closed to allow the pressurized, heated air to inflate the sleeve to its natural form for finishing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,992 teaches an apparatus and method where a long sleeve garment is finished through the use of a clip positioned at an upper end of each of the elongated arms. The clips are formed with resiliently urged fingers and adapted to receive an area of the long sleeve garment and form an obstruction for the flow of heated air and steam therethrough during a finishing operation. In the alternative, a manually operated rotatable clamp is provided along the length of each of the elongated arms to finish a short sleeve garment on the same pressing apparatus. This manually operated rotatable clamp has to be rotated in or out of position by the operator depending on the sleeve length of the shirt to be pressed.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art to improve and preserve the quality of a finished sleeve (long or short) of a garment and to improve operator efficiency while providing a sleeve clamping mechanism for a shirt pressing machine which easily adapts to varied sleeve lengths.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus for pressing garments that can be incorporated into currently existing shirt pressing machines without extensive modifications or expense.
Nothing in the prior art provides the benefits attendant with the present invention.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improvement which overcomes the inadequacies of the prior art devices and which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the shirt pressing art.
It is a further object of the present invention to increase the efficiency, simplicity and safety of garment finishing machines while reducing the cost through reduced equipment.
Another object of the present invention is to press the front and back of a garment while concurrently finishing both short and long sleeves.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sleeve gripping member mounted on the retractable arms of a pressing apparatus whereby both long sleeve garments and short sleeve garments can be routinely pressed on the pressing apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide retractable arms that are attached to pneumatic cylinders on the pressing system whereby the pair of retractable arms can be selectively extended to accommodate garments of different sizes and sleeve lengths.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cuff mounting member and a pair of clamping members along each of the retractable arms of a pressing apparatus wherein the clamping members are adapted to receive and hold long garment sleeves against the cuff mounting member.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tear drop shaped cuff mounting member to properly hold the cuff of the long sleeve garment.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fabric covered tear drop shaped cuff mounting member to stop steam and air from escaping out of the end of the long sleeve of the garment.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a soft foam cover for each cuff plate to eliminate marks in the cuff during the pressing of the long sleeve of the garment.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide pneumatically operated clamping members along each of the retractable arms of a pressing apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a pair of sleeve engagement bars along each of the retractable arms of a pressing apparatus wherein the sleeve engagement bars are adapted to receive and hold short garment sleeves.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide pneumatically operated sleeve engagement bars along each of the retractable arms of a pressing apparatus.
It is yet another object of the present invention is to provide at least one pneumatic valve to operate the pair of retractable arms, the clamping members and the sleeve engagement bars of a pressing apparatus.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide sleeve engagement bars having curved ends to help insure that the sleeve engagement bars do not snag the sleeve of the shirt being pressed.
Another object of the present invention is to provide sleeve engagement bars having textured tubes to prevent slippage of the sleeve while the operator places the sleeve on the sleeve engagement bars for proper alignment.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved pressing apparatus for pressing a garment, the apparatus comprising, a buck for receiving the garment to be pressed; a collar mount for receiving a collar of the garment to be pressed; a pair of retractable arms pneumatically mounted on a base of the pressing apparatus such that the arms can be extended to accommodate different sizes of garments and sleeve lengths; a cuff mounting member positioned on each of the retractable arms for receiving and mounting the long sleeves of the garment to be pressed; a pair of clamping members operably positioned with respect to the cuff mounting member on each of the retractable arms for holding long sleeves of the garment to be pressed; and a pair of sleeve engagement bars positioned on each of the retractable arms for receiving and holding short sleeves of the garment to be pressed, the sleeve engagement bars moving closer to one another for mounting and releasing the short sleeves of the garment to be pressed, the sleeve engagement bars moving apart from one another for holding the short sleeves of the garment to be pressed.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a mounting device for mounting a garment on a pressing system prior to performing a pressing operation on the garment, the device comprising, a buck for receiving the garment to be pressed; a pair of retractable arms mounted on a base of the pressing system such that the arms can be moved with respect to the buck; and a sleeve gripping member mounted on each of the retractable arms whereby the mounting device may be used to press both long sleeve garments and short sleeve garments.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for finishing a pair of sleeves on a garment comprising, providing a buck for receiving the garment to be pressed; providing a pair of retractable arms positioned on opposing sides of the buck; providing a pair of sleeve gripping members mounted on each of the retractable arms; mounting the garment to be pressed onto the buck; mounting an end of each long sleeve of a long sleeve garment onto the sleeve gripping members; gripping the end of each long sleeve on each of the sleeve gripping members; extending the pair of retractable arms away from the buck; flowing heated air and steam through the long sleeve garment during a finishing operation; releasing the end of each long sleeve from each of the sleeve gripping members to unload the long sleeve garment; mounting an end of each short sleeve of a short sleeve garment onto the sleeve gripping members; gripping the end of each short sleeve on each of the sleeve gripping members; extending the pair of retractable arms away from the buck; flowing heated air and steam through the short sleeve garment during the finishing operation; and releasing the end of each short sleeve from each of the sleeve gripping members to unload the short sleeve garment.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method for finishing a pair of sleeves on a garment comprising, providing a buck for receiving the garment to be pressed; providing a pair of retractable arms positioned on opposing sides of the buck; providing a pair of sleeve gripping members mounted on each of the retractable arms; mounting the garment to be pressed onto the buck; mounting an end of each long sleeve of a long sleeve garment onto a cuff mounting member positioned on each of the sleeve gripping members; contracting a pair of clamping members positioned on each of the sleeve gripping members against the end of each long sleeve; extending the pair of retractable arms away from the buck; flowing heated air and steam through the long sleeve garment during a finishing operation; extending the pair of clamping members away from the end of each long sleeve to unload the long sleeve garment; mounting an end of each short sleeve of a short sleeve garment onto a pair of sleeve engagement bars positioned on each of the sleeve gripping members; expanding each of the pair of sleeve engagement bars within the end of each short sleeve; extending the pair of retractable arms away from the buck; flowing heated air and steam through the short sleeve garment during the finishing operation; and contracting the pair of sleeve engagement bars away from the end of each short sleeve to unload the short sleeve garment.
The foregoing has outlined some of the pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.